If you want to get my heart in 3 words, forget about I love you : I have 3 much sweeter words in mind.
Pan. Con. Tomate.
As I failed to understand younger, less is more. This dish is one of the most satisfying summer dishes I know. A true summer dish, with aromatic summery produce. A dish you won’t mind making even when it’s 40°C outside.
And such a dish is made within 10 minutes.
- First, grate your tomatoes
- Meanwhile, toast some bread
- Add olive oil, basil, salt to your tomatoes
- Rub garlic on your bread
- Spread your tomato mixture on your bread
- Add toppings (if any).
This beautiful dish does not need any topping. You could spread your tomato mixture to your bread and call it a day : it will still be the most amazing 5-mn open-faced sandwiches you’ve ever had.
Yet I simply felt like playing around with my pan con tomate. I started picturing olives and feta cheese on top of this beauty, and I knew I had to attempt this version.
But I do love the traditional ones, too. Pan con tomate y jamon (with cured ham) is iconic in Catalonia ; could my humble veggie version compare to this one ?
Spoiler alert ; it could. I was truly amazed to see how I instantly felt the superiority of the veggie version over the ham version. I’m no vegetarian, but I keep discovering how easy it is to favour, as much as possible, veggie-based dishes ; and how easy it is to make those veggies shine, when you give them the same consideration you would to meat. Quality is of the essence, as well as a bit of research on traditional cooking techniques and recipes -with a great many number of dishes that are naturally vegetarian.
Pan con Tomate 2 ways – Ingredients
Ingredients – Advice & key points
- The amounts listed make around 10 small to medium toasts, which serve 5 as an appetizer, or 2-3 as a main.
- It goes without saying but : use quality, in-season tomatoes ! This is truly a summer dish, where the tomato taste must shine.
- Basil and garlic are optional, but highly, highly recommended.
- If you don’t own a toaster (which I find quite handy), you can use :
- a pan on medium-high heat, and toast your slices 1-2 minutes per side ;
- an oven on grill mode if you prep a large batch ; broil for 1–2 minutes per side on high ;
- if you own a gas stove, using tongs, hold the bread directly over a gas flame for a few seconds on each side, moving it constantly to avoid burning.
- You can use any bread you have on hand -just not industrial bread, please ; a fresh loaf from your local bakery is needed.
- I ask my baker to pre-slice the bread, as I find it much handier.
- I always keep a sliced bread loaf in my freezer. Then I have some whenever I like ; simply toast a slice or two straight from frozen, and there you go !
- If you can find rustic bread, this would the most traditional type for Pan con Tomate.
- Feel free to play around with Pan con Tomate toppings !
- The most typical are either cured ham, anchovies or cheese.
- Feel free to have others, or none at all ! It will be de-li-cious anyway.
Let’s get it done !
Pan con Tomate 2 ways (Veggie / Cured Ham)
Description
Juicy, aromatic grated tomatoes on crusty bread, boosted by umami bombs : either feta/olives or ham, choose your weapon !
Ingredients
For the veggie version (10 toasts)
For the cured ham version (10 toasts)
Instructions
Launch your bread
Start toasting your bread.
Take your cured ham out of the fridge if using.
Tomato time
Grate the tomato. Add olive oil, salt, chopped basil.
Mince your olives and crumble some feta cheese if needed.
Assemble !
Add to toasted bread the tomato mixture, then your toppings if using.
Et voilà !! You're done !